VENANGO CO., Pa. (EYT) — While many local residents may look at Venango County and the surrounding area as a sleepy region of average middle-class rural residents, it turns out some of the state’s wealthiest residents have chosen this region as their home.

According to recent data available from the Department of Revenue, Venango County has 16 residents that earn a combined total of over $38.37 million, meaning each of those dozen has an average annual income of more than $2.4 million each.

“It doesn’t really surprise me any,” Venango County Commissioner Vince Witherup told exploreVenango.com.

“I think we’re seeing a lot of folks moving back into the area after having done extremely well in life, coming here to retire or for semi-retirement.”

Witherup noted that “It’s not like when I was growing up. If you have the internet and an idea, as long as you’re connected, you can work from anywhere you want now.

Plus, even when I started out of college, it was still a chore to get to Pittsburgh, but now there are people who live in the South Hills that I can beat to downtown Pittsburgh. Our infrastructure has also greatly improved in the area.”

While Venango County does have its own share of millionaires, neighboring Clarion County is actually the home of Pennsylvania’s wealthiest million-dollar earners, with 12 residents who have combined earnings of over $57 million, meaning each of those dozen has an average annual income of more than $4.8 million.

“Good for them,” Clarion County Commissioner Ted Tharan said. “It’s good that wealth is in Clarion County. As the old saying goes, you can’t take it with you. I’m truly happy for those people, and I think that means things are still happening in Clarion County.”

According to statistics from the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue, the number of millionaires in the state has been on the increase. While the largest concentration of those with an annual income of over $1 million is highest in the region surrounding Philadelphia, accounting for just over half of the state’s million-dollar earners, the more rural parts of the state haven’t been left entirely in the dust.

Neighboring counties in our region also have their share of those with seven-figure earnings. Crawford County has 24 residents that earn a combined total of over $54.59 million, averaging $2.3 million each, and Mercer County has 61 residents that earned a combined total of over $105 million, averaging $1.7 million each.

The concentration of wealth grows heading closer to Pittsburgh, with Butler sporting 224 resident millionaires earning a combined total of $548,418,099.00, averaging about $2.5 million each.

The overall earnings of Pennsylvania’s millionaires have been on the increase as well, increasing nearly 30 percent in the last four years, from $35.7 billion to $48.3 billion, while the total income of those in lower-earning groups has risen just 0.4 percent.